This week I’m
staying in the first and only community during my Swenglish journey. Four
adults (five with me), two kids, one cat and one horse are part of the household.
The house is from the 1850s and is located in the countryside outside Umeå. The
forest is everywhere and it’s quite close to the sea. Every day vegan food is
served. Some days they eat together, sometimes they don't. There’s
a ”cleaning spinner” to share the chores, but it’s not in use anymore. Despite
that it’s as tidy as it can be with small children in the house. It’s not at
all as chaotic as in Lukas Moodyson’s film ”Together” ...
In England I
stayed in some households with four or five people, but that didn't make it into
a community. Just because you live with more than one other person who is not
family or close friend it doesn't automatically become a community. In England,
at least in Brighton and other bigger cities, people live together because they
have to. Not only when they are students but also when they get to their 40s or
50s. It’s common that people who don’t know each other at all put their names
on a contract and move in together.
In Sweden it’s
much more common that people live on their own and if you live together with
someone you often choose to do so, and then it’s not for economical reasons as was
my experience in England. There are communities in England as well of course, and like in Sweden they are often based around
political or spiritual beliefs. But what I’m trying to say is that in
Sweden it’s not as common to live with several other people if it’s not a
community and people here readily call a household with more than two people a
community even if it’s not. (In Sweden we don't even have any words for "housemate" or "flatmate".)
So what makes a
community into a community? Why isn't it enough just to live with several other
people? I haven’t yet got a good answer, but the thing about having the same
ideology and values seems to be a criteria. My host who is a "leftie" could not
imagine living with people who are right-wing even if she has good discussions with them when meeting them out. She wouldn't be able to live with
people who eat meat at home either. Why is it that it’s almost always left-wing
people and very often vegetarians that live in communities then? Why have
conservatives and meet eaters not discovered community living?
I’m now well into
my twenty-third Swenglish-week and have lived with so many different people in
so many different places that I think I need to live completely on my own for
six months just to find out what my own life-style and my own habits are. All
my life I've adjusted myself so much to the people I've lived with that I don’t
know if I’m tidy or messy, if I’m an owl or a lark. Although after I've tried
living on my own I’m not against the idea of a community. If only I've got a room
where I can lock the door and write, things usually work out. It’s quite nice
having people around, being able to choose if you want to have company or be on
your own. And if people have kids there are extra baby-sitters. (In Sweden the
word for baby-sitter is "child guard" ... to guard someone doesn't sound quite right!)
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